


Ben 10: Return To Earth

by EnderTinman



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Omnitrix Aliens - Freeform, Post-Canon, hopefully even the ones unused in Omniverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-05-15 19:31:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5797051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnderTinman/pseuds/EnderTinman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Omniverse<br/>The team returns home from their road trip to find Earth almost fully integrated with galactic society, and the pros and cons that come with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Return

"I spy with my little eye..."  
The Proto-TRUK sped through space, returning from a long roadtrip, the occupants trying to entertain themselves.  
"Something beginning with... 'S'." Ben Tennyson, Wielder of the Omnitrix, Superhero, afraid of peacocks, presented a task to his fellow shipmates.  
"Stars?" Rook Blonko, Revonnahgander, Plumber, Partner of the Omnitrix Wielder, scarily addicted to chilli fries, guessed.  
"Space?" Gwendolyn Tennyson, Anodite, College Graduate, Kevin's Girlfriend, Cusion of the Omnitrix Wielder, definitely not Lucky Girl, provided her own answer.  
"S-ceiling?" Kevin Levin, Osmosian, Car fanatic, Gwendolyn's Boyfriend, he'd tell you he doesn't have any fears but it's probably something to do with chickens, joked, earning a playful slap on the shoulder from Gwendolyn.  
Zed, blue, scaly dog-like Anubian Baskurr , Kevin's Pet (although she likes to see it as his protector, seeing how she had saved him countless times), growled as if to give her own answer.  
"Nope, Smoothy coupon." Ben grins as he presents the crumpled piece of paper he'd found under his seat.  
"How long has that been there?"  
"I dunno, it expired a year ago..." Ben threw the coupon behind him, prompting Zed to jump, catch it in her mouth and return it to Ben, tail wagging.  
As Ben wiped the alien dog's spit onto his shirt, Rook took his turn at the game. "I am spying with my small eye an object beginning with the letter 'S'"  
"Dude, you can't use the same letter twice!"  
"But I am spying a different object to you."  
"But... fine." Ben grumbles and shrinks into his seat, eliciting snickers from the other two passengers.  
"Is it a star?" Gwendolyn asks.  
"S-ceiling?" Earning a ship wide groan.  
"If it isn't the smoothy coupon, I got nothing." Ben admits.  
"The object I am spying that begins with the letter 'S' is space station." Rook points to the large green hourglass shape orbiting around Earth that was Plumber Headquarters.  
"We're back!" Ben shouts, near deafening the ships occupants. "Rook, open short range comms, I wanna tell Grandpa we're here."  
"Plumber Headquarters, this is Rook Blonko on an approach course, requesting permission to land."  
The comms only crackle with static. "Plumber Headquarters, this is Rook Blonko, please respond."  
"Well, that's not good." Gwendolyn states the obvious.  
"Rook, bring the 'TRUK in close, we're breaking in." Ben tells his partner, already scrolling through the Omnitrix.

The Proto-TRUK lands on the hull of Plumber HQ with a soft thunk, which reverberates throughout the 'TRUK ominously.  
The rear hatch opens to reveal Bloxx, who extends his segmented multicolored brick body to build a small box connecting the ship to the station. Within, Gwendolyn removes the pink tinted shield she'd created with her powers, causing Bloxx's structure to buckle under the stress of a pressurized environment.  
Rook moves over to the exposed hull of the space station, and with his Proto-Tool, cuts a hole to allow them access.  
Gwendolyn enters first, followed shortly by Kevin whilst Rook closes the Proto-TRUK's hatch, he eventually enters. Bloxx covers over the opening and deconstructs the box, leaving the 'TRUK docked on the side of the station.  
The opening, currently sealed thanks to several multicolored segments, is covered over by the same green tinted metal that was removed, courtesy of some Osmosian intervention.

They move through the service ducts, Gwendolyn taking lead due to her amazing sense of direction and ability to generate a light source without technological aid, the twists and turns melded into a giant game of follow the leader until Gwendolyn suddenly stops, with everyone behind her comically running into each other, and extends her hand, blasting off a pannel in front of her, allowing the group access to the control room of Plumber Headquarters. Gwendolyn transports them down on a pink tinted platform, along the way, Kevin absorbs some green metal from the wall to strengthen his body, Rook activates the flashlight on his Proto-Tool to illuminate the far side of the room, and Ben dials in an alien.  
He slams his hand down onto the Omnitrix, causing his skin to harden, crack and set alight. Heatblast now provides his own light source, brightening the room further, revealing a shadow that scurries across the far wall. The Pyronite nods to his partner, who slowly approaches a console supposedly hiding the owner of the shadow. Rook shines his flashlight behind the control, only for it to reveal an unexpected being.

"Driba?" Rook questions, picking him up by the collar of his suit.  
"Suprise!" The Galvan says, waving his hands in a defeated emphasis.  
"Wha...?" Heatblast asks, looking over to Kevin and Gwendolyn for explanation, only to be met with confused shrugs. Above them, lights activate one after the other, eventually brightening the entire cavernous room, drowning out the need for for flashlight, technological, magic or humanoid.  
A large roll of paper descends from the ceiling, unfurling to reveal many languages written upon it in many different colours, the largest is in English, saying 'Welcome Home'.  
From behind every console, Plumber personnel reveal themselves from their hiding places, the various species each murmuring in their own languages. In the centre of the room, the large column that holds the elevator shaft, a door slides open, revealing Magister Max Tennyson.  
"Grandpa!" Gwendolyn and Heatblast run towards him as he exits the elevator.  
"Welcome home." He replies, arms outstretched, accepting Gwendolyn and Ben, after he returns to being human, into a hug.  
"Magister Tennyson, we had believed Plumber Headquarters had been invaded, why did you not respond to our communications?" Rook asks.  
"Well, it was supposed to play an automated message, but..." Max looks over to Driba, who is joined by Blukic via Galvan sized hovercraft.  
"I assure you, it was functional when I activated it this morning." Driba defends.  
"No it wasn't, and you hadn't even turned it on." Blukic argues.  
"Yes I did!"  
"No, you didn't, that was an answering machine!"  
"Yes it was an answering machine, but we salvaged parts from it for the long range communications relay!"  
"No, we didn't!"  
"Yes, we did!"  
The argument is drowned out by alarms, deafening everyone in the room.  
"What's happening?" Ben asks, pulling away from Max and looking up to the ceiling.  
"Crime in progress, Pakmar's distribution offices, unknown perpetrator." A Plumber officer relays the information.  
"Well, whadaya know? Leave him alone for a year and he builds up a business." Ben comments on Pakmar's success, entering the open elevator.  
"Ben, would it be unwise to engage an adversary within one of Pakmar's businesses? You recall your previous attempts." Rook advises, entering the elevator and joining his partner.  
"Dude, I know, so that's why we pursue instead of fight... at least, to start with."  
"That is... a sound plan, surprising that it came from you." Rook jokes, before taking a device from his belt and activating it. "The Proto-TRUK shall be waiting for our arrival in the hanger."

"It's good to be home!' Ben shouts, raising his arms in celebration as the elevator closes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: The first alien that Ben transforms into in the first three series (and a few of the movies) is always a fire alien;  
> Heatblast: the first alien ever used in the Original Series, Race Against Time, and Secret Of The Omnitrix.  
> Swampfire: first alien used in Alien Force, with Ultimate Swampfire being the first used ultimate form.  
> The first alien used in Omniverse is Lodestar, but the first introduced Nemetrix predator is Crabdozer, Heatblast's natural predator.  
> I decided to pay homage to this recurring theme by making Heatblast the first shown transformation, as Bloxx was the first alien used.


	2. Back On The Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The return to Undertown is met with the usual welcome party...

Undertown, the first known alien settlement on Earth, was sprawling with its usual crowds of various off-world natives.  
The Proto-TRUK speeds down empty streets, making its way towards one of the most successful businesses in Undertown, despite the owner's previous string of failures. The 'TRUK comes to a halt and its passengers exit, running towards the large building with 'Pakmar Suppliers LTD' in various languages plastered across the sign. Within the offices are chaos, with scared aliens running for cover. As Rook and Ben enter, they're almost pushed back out of the building by the crowd that bursts through the door.

After wrestling past the raging stream of beings, they find themselves in a large typical office space, cubicles and watercoolers, the only things seemingly atypical of the setting was the giant hole in the wall, presumably the point of entry, and the giant alien pig occupying the centre of the room with a familiar small amphibian clutched in his hand.  
"You will let Pakmar go!" Pakmar orders Thunderpig from his incarceration within the alien pig's hand.  
"Thunderpig thinks he'll hold on to Pakmar until his demands are met!"  
"Pakmar thinks you haven't made any demands!"  
"Well... T-Thunderpig thinks..." He stutters a reply, obviously phased by his lapse in thought regarding hostage ransoms, he can't form the rest of the sentence before he is interrupted.  
"Ben Tennyson thinks that Thunderpig's about to get a beat down!" The Omnitrix Wielder threatens, his hand hovering over his watch and his partner at his side, aiming his Proto-Tool at the alien pig.

The warring captor and captee stop and stare at the teen.  
"No, no, no, no, Ben Tennyson must leave!" The business alien orders, thrashing his body around. "Pakmar cannot afford for his business to be destroyed yet again!"  
"For a guy who's captured, you sure are making a lot of demands..." Ben shifts his pose and motions to the exit. "Whadaya say 'Pig, why don't we leave the man to his business and we throw punches outside?"  
"Thunderpig has a better idea!" He tosses Pakmar to the side and races towards the duo, who dodge the rampaging pig by diving out of the way, both in opposite directions to each other.  
"Rook, get Pakmar, I'll deal with Thunderous Rampage over here!" Ben yells at his partner, who nods and disappears into the sea of cubicles. "C'mon little piggie, let's go to market!" Ben taunts Thunderpig, who snorts and gives chase to him.  
"Pakmar, man, I've gotta transform..." He attempts to plead with the little grey alien, who'd been recovered from from the office wreckage by the larger blue alien.  
"No, no, no, no! Ben Tennyson is forbidden from using that watch in Pakmar's building!"  
"But there's no way of getting him out..." Ben quickly spins around to face the nearby entry hole in the wall. "Or is there?"  
Thunderpig rampages towards him as he positions himself in front of the gaping hole.  
"Here, piggy, piggy, pig...!" His taunting is cut off by the sudden impact of a giant alien pig to his torso, sending them both flying out of the building. In a blind panic, Ben fumbles with the Omnitrix.

Armodrillo hits the ground, briefly tumbling as he tries to gain some sort of traction. Thunderpig lands on him and gets launched back up into the air by Armodrillo's pneumatic arms.  
"No! Ben Tennyson has broken the agreement!" Pakmar shouts from the hole in the wall, wriggling in Rook's grasp.  
"Hey, I had to or he would've crushed me..." Armodrillo agrues. "And how am I still inside your building?"  
"You are still on Pakmar's property!"  
Armodrillo looks at his surroundings, alien trucks in some sort of depot... 'Pakmar's Distribution Office' echoes in his mind. "Oh... doesn't count, you said in your building!" He smugly states.  
"Ben, the perpetrator." Rook urges, reminding Armodrillo that Thunderpig was making the age old saying of 'when pigs fly' come true. The swine squeals during his decent, his form spinning in a mix of anger and fright. Armodrillo readies himself as Thunderpig comes into range, he launches himself up with one hand and punches his opposition square in the jaw with the other. Thunderpig lands on the floor with a small 'oink'.  
Rook, having let Pakmar go, runs to handcuff the K.O.-ed Thunderpig as Armodrillo reverts to Ben in a flash of green light. He joins Rook as fans swarm to see the returned Omnitrix Wielder, each with their own questions.  
"Ben, when did get back to Earth?" One fan asks, presenting a picture for Ben to autograph.  
"Just got back today, feels good to be back on the job." He summarises, taking a pen and doodling his name over the paper.  
"Ben, how was space, are you going to go back out there any time soon?" Another fan, an amateur reporter type, asks while pressing a button on a recorder.  
"Space was big, vast and interesting, can't wait until commercial spaceflight becomes available to the Earth general populous, I know a lot of aliens who grew up on Earth and have never had the chance to track down their heritage, and I've no plans for another road trip any time soon, thank you." Ben signs the last of the autographs, waves to the fans and turns to where Rook is guiding a now conscious Thunderpig into the Proto-TRUK. "Man, am I glad I took those public speaking audio lessions... I finally don't sound like a stuttering kid asking for a date anymore."  
"Congratulations, I too am glad you no longer sound like a blubbering child." Rook praises, closing up the back of the 'TRUK and making his way to the driver's side door.  
"That doesn't sound too congratulatory." Ben points at Rook in mock anger, climbing into the passenger side of the 'TRUK, causing Rook to chuckle at the childish response. "One thing though..." Ben looks over to the small crowd of people loitering from the previous battle, the amateur reporter interviewing Pakmar. "There's a lot more human's down here than last we were here."  
"Yes, I too have noticed the increased visitations of human civilians within Undertown."  
"Pro'lly gettin' stuff for their... recipes." Thunderpig mumbles. "It's what Thunderpig was doing."  
"'Recipes'?" Ben looks into the back of the Proto-TRUK where Thunderpig sits slumped against the wall.  
"Yes, Thunderpig was on his way to get a delivery from his mother, who Thunderpig has been talking with since this planet got Extranet, the delivery did not arrive on time, Thunderpig got angry... you know the rest."  
"Earth has Extranet now? Cool, now I can finally use it."  
"You have been able to access the Extranet from Plumber Headquarters for quite some time." Rook says, giving his partner a confused look.  
"It's not like I've had a lot of free time while I'm at HQ, it's usually torn between hanging out with you, or with Grampa, or in a disaster situation."  
"That is true, perhaps now you can access it in your free time."  
"Perhaps." Ben echoes as the 'TRUK comes to a stop, he'd been concentrating on the conversation too much to realise they'd exited Undertown and had arrived at Ben's house. "Okay, see you tomorrow, partner, have a good night." He says as he exits the vehicle.  
"You too, partner." He closes the door and watches as the Proto-TRUK pulls off, reaches the end of the street and transforms into a spaceship, flying off into the night sky.  
Ben turns to his house, seeing that the window of the living room is illuminated. "It's good to be home." He whispers to himself as he walks up to the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question: why do the Notes from the first chapter appear in the second, and how do I get it to stop?  
> (Edit: Thanks to RenkonNairu for telling me how to fix this)


	3. Homeward Bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You remember the Alien Force episode 'Grounded'? That was a weird one, mostly because his parents weren't freaking out due to the fact their son turned into these freaky monsters and were only focusing on the fact that he felt responsibility for wearing the Omnitrix...  
> Ben's parents seem pretty chill though, in retrospect.

Ben stands in front of the front door of his house, under the dark, starry sky and occasionally flickering porch light.  
This is the part he'd been dreading, not that he'd admit it.  
He kneels down, grabs the spare key from under the welcome mat, and opens the door.

The door slowly swings open, the hinges not creaking thanks to a replacement a few years back... which totally wasn't his fault; he drops the key and replaces the mat with his foot, which he then uses to step over the threshold.  
His mother, like a blur that could give XLR8 a run for his money, appears by his side and clamps her arms around him. "Ben, you're back!"  
Well, he'd expected her to be asleep by now, having just left the living room light on by mistake.  
"How did you...?" His mouth just tumbles over the question, Rook's voice sarcastically congratulating him on 'not sounding like a blubbering child' surfaces in his mind.  
"Gwen called, said you'd arrived over an hour ago." His dad explains, closing the door behind Ben as his mom drags him to the sofa.  
"Gwen... oh man, I forgot to say goodbye before running off on a mission!" Ben slaps his hand to his forehead, mentally adding to the list of things he needs to do, 'punch Thunderpig into the ground: check, check out the Extranet: pending, deal with parents: going... well, call Gwen: in the morning, she's probably asleep now.'  
"So how was space?" His mom asks with the eagerness of a child.

"Oh, y'know, it was good." He tries to play down the trip, as a joke, before he realises something. "Oh, souvenirs!"  
He pulls out two devices slim devices from his back pocket. "Sorry if they're busted... I got crushed by a giant pig." He hands them to his parents, who begin examining their souvenirs.  
His dad figures out the mechanism first, if by total accident, and pushes the power button, a green tinted holographic screen shoots out of the side and a fuzzy image forms on it.  
"Okay, what's this?" A recording of Ben's voice comes from a hidden speaker.  
"That is a holographic message recorder, very popular with tourists." Explains Rook's voice. "Be careful you don't start recording, or we will have to buy it..."  
The recording abruptly stops, only for another one to take its place. "Say 'cheese'!" Says Gwen's voice.  
Ben and Kevin's voice comply with the request, while Rook, with a confused tone. "Why must I, where is the dairy product?" His confusion sends Ben and Kevin into a fit of laughter.  
The holographic screen dims, not having displayed a single image.  
"I guess the screens busted... I can fix that." Ben reassures, Jury would either fix it or turn it into a ray gun, Grey Matter would be better, despite the trivial task.

His mom, with a little help from his dad, finds the power button on her holo-postcard, this time, the screen bursts to life, but it doesn't have any audio. The screen shows a sleeping Kevin, snoring in the back of the Proto-TRUK, Ben's hand reaches over to poke his cheek, causing Kevin to swat it away as if it were a fly, Ben’s hand comes forward again, only for Kevin to grab it, revealing that his slumber had been a deception, the postcard is dropped, but it still shows that Ben activates the Omnitrix in a panic as Kevin lurches forward, only to land in Goop’s goop, splattering all over the wall of the Proto-TRUK.  
“Looks like you had an interesting time.” His mom grins, which infectiously finds its way onto his dad’s face.  
“Yeah, I think Rook has some more stuff, I’ll ask him about it tomorrow.” He stretches, suddenly aware of how tired he is. Thanks for the adrenaline, ‘Pig. “But right now, I haven’t seen you in forever… so how’s Earth been?”


	4. A Litte Extra-Net

Ben wishes his parents a good night, promising to relay more details of his adventure in the morning, and heads to his room.

His mental checklist seems too extensive, he needs time to think it all through, which conveniently comes in the form of one of his plans. 

 

He enters his room, untouched since the day he left, and digs his laptop out from under his bed. He hasn't used the thing since school, and even then it was just to look up the prices on Sumo Slammer merch, speaking of, it's green case was covered in stickers of his favourite characters. He cracks it open and hits the power button, hoping he remembers his password.

Five minutes later, he's skimming through a couple of local news sites, including Jimmy's, still mulling over a better password than 'IHeartJulie', because 15 year old him was an idiot. He comes across a few reports on crime rates, Harangue trying to get everyone to notice the drop in crime since Ben had left, and a few things from the human media about Undertown, but nothing about the Extranet, he tries a more direct approach.

Typing 'Extranet' into a search engine wields several reports dating back to a few months after he'd left, and a website with a login, judging by the URL, it was the place he needed to be. Time to think of a way better password.

 

The Extranet worked similarly to a giant social network rather than a simple intergalactic search engine, as user 'OfficialOmnitrixUser' found out (all variants of 'Ben 10' and 'Ben Tennyson' had been taken), he had a profile and could follow people and have followers, make posts, and all the usual networking jazz, he never really was one for human social networking mostly because he'd be harassed by Harangue at every turn. On top of the base of profiles, a search function allowed him to find out information, such as other people's profiles (he found Rook's easily, there were a lot of cats), news sites, video streaming services, and basically anything he could imagine. He types in his own name.

News reports, pictures of him walking the streets of Undertown, forums of people debating which alien versus which alien, people speculating on his next alien, Pakmar campaigning for him to do community service for all the damage he has caused, along with an attached image of his earlier fight with Thunderpig.

He scrolled further, to before his departure, to before the reveal of his identity, to the year he put on the Omnitrix.

'Plumbers warn of potential threat on Earth - avoidance advised.'

The article began with an image of Heatblast, pursuing two humans in masks with large brown sacks presumably filled with money, stereotypical bank robbers. The report was made as to spin his presence as a negative thing, as to an outside observer, it seemed like he was simply attacking humans, and not being a hero. The strangest part is that apparently the Plumbers ordered the public to completely avoid Earth, which of course, several criminals ignored. He figured Grandpa Max had ordered that the galactic populous avoid Earth so that Ben wouldn't be exposed to alien culture, a plan that had backfired when he'd set the Omnitrix’s self destruct for the first time.

He'll ask Rook about it tomorrow, and probably dig something out of the Plumber Database, but not before he contacts Gwen. Tomorrow’'ll be as lively as the past few hours, hopefully without any surprises.

 

He'd jinxed it, of course he had.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here, the day started out normal enough, as it always does.

He'd woken up, bruised and very glad he once again had a memory foam mattress, he'd have to thank Thunderpig with a serious headache next time he gets out on the streets. He'd grabbed breakfast, reminded his parents that he couldn't just stay at home, not matter how much they collectively wished, and that he did have a job to do, to which his dad asked what he'd done with his son, a lighthearted jab that brought up unwanted memories of Albedo.

The ‘TRUK had pulled up at the exact time he'd closed the door, making Ben wonder if Rook was precognitive or if Plumber Surveillance was just that good.

“Mornin’ Rook.” he greets his partner.

“Good morning Ben, I trust your parents did not try to incapacitate you for attempting to leave your home?”

He chuckles and climbs into the ‘TRUK, coming coming face to face with his partner who hands him a coffee flavoured smoothie. “You're a lifesaver.”

“I have indeed ‘saved your butt’ on many occasions.” Rook agrees. “I am glad to see my Plumber training did not go to waste.”

Ben snorts into his smoothie, tapping Gwen’s contact on his phone.

 

Over the course of the night, ‘OfficialOmnitrixUser’ had gained a small following, a few people wondering if the account was fake and a few bots, and Ben intended to reward the lucky few who had arrived.

The first video is from the passenger side of the Proto-TRUK, with the streets of Bellwood racing past, the radio quietly reports the morning news, the camera pans left across the dashboard, over to Rook, who frowns at the camera, confused.

The first image is a selfie, Ben’s surprised expression showing that the action was unplanned, the caption read: ‘I've not used an Earth Phone in forever, I can't even remember what half the buttons do.’

The second image is of a bag of chilli fries balancing on the ‘TRUK dashboard, captioned: ‘Mid-patrol snack break.’

The second video is of the river running through Undertown, Rook is on the foreground, tinkering with his Proto-Tool, the ambience of the running water and noise from the nearby market is relaxing.

The latest video comes from a Mr Smoothy’s near the Tennyson residence, there are several hours between this video and the previous, evidenced by the evening sunlight, it's a simple ten second loop with a smoothie cup in the foreground, some Sumo Slammers cards acting as its coaster, Rook idly taps at his tablet.

 

“Ah, Benjamin…” comes the disembodied voice of Professor Paradox, accompanied by a swirling blue vortex. “There's someone I'd like you to meet.” He exits the portal, alone.

He grins at Ben and Rook, before noting the confusion on their faces and looks to his side, notably lacking his companion.

“Oh bother.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Introduction, and basically a Back Door Pilot for one of my other fics.

“Ah Benjamin…” The disembodied voice of Professor Paradox says, Ben doesn't flinch. “I have someone I’d like you to meet.” He steps out of one of his portals, alone.

He grins at Ben and Rook, then frowns at their confused faces, he turns to his right, now noticing his lack of companion.

“Oh bother.”

 

Undertown

The mouth of the tunnel is completely obscured due to the sudden mist that had appeared, a humanoid figure emerges stumbling into the street, knocking over a market stand.

“Hey!” Complains a high pitched voice.

“Sorry, sorry!” Michelle apologises, without noticing the lack of person behind the stall.

“It's fine, stop apologizing, you'll make me feel guilty.” the voice assures, Michelle blinks, confused. “Look down, please.”

She does so, and sees the small winged alien, fairy-like, blue skin, dressed in leaves, a Nemuina.

“Oh, sorry to disturb you miss…” Michelle notes how their face drops. “... ter, mister?”

“Nice save, the name’s Glynnt.” He holds out his gloved hand, she shakes it, and he attempts to lift his stall.

“Let me get that for you.” Michelle offers, lifting the wooden stall with ease.

“Thanks. Not if you could only lift my sales.”

“Oh, do you take...” Michelle checks her pocket, realising she'd left her wallet in The Cave. “Oh crap.”

“Nah, it's fine… It's not like you're holding up any business.”

There's a crash, echoing from further within Undertown, both of their heads swivel in that direction.

“That a regular thing down here?”

“More often than you think, it died down when Tennyson was off planet.”

“He's back?”

“What rock are you living under?”

Michelle shrugs, it was technically a mountain.

“I should probably close up, no one's gonna leave their houses after whatever's happened.” he starts packing away his seeds into a nearby flower pot.

“Want me to help?”

“No, no, you've already knocked over my stand, I don't want you destroying my plant pots.” He jokes. “Go back topside, Tennyson and his partner never usually let them get that far.”

“It was great to meet you!” Michelle waves, walking further into Undertown instead of back the direction she came from.

“And you!” Glynnt waves back, but as she turns a corner. “Oh, and recommend me to your friends!”

 

“Alrighty then, it's hero time!” She pauses, hand hovering over the Omnitrix. “No that sucks, let's just dial it up… better, but taken.”

She pushes the button and the dial pops up, revealing the old silhouette interface, none of them familiar. “Well duh, it's configured to the female DNA sample… or closest equivalent, let's just pick something easy, bipedal and humanoid.” She spins the dial a few different ways, before settling on one as indistinguishable as the others.

Transformation is… disconcerting, knowing that your entire essence of being is being rewritten, destroyed and stored until timeout, replaced with a literal alien feeling, if she wasn't blinded by the green light, she'd probably look like she was going through one of the transformations from the original series.

It takes less than a second, her regular nerve endings are replaced with one's in searing pain, everything burns, how did Tennyson ever deal with this pain? Another crash reveals the answer: keep your mind on the job.

“Big… Chill?” She asks, they ask, correcting for the genderless species, misty breath clouding their vision, they note the Omnitrix on display in the centre of their chest… strange. “Well, I suppose it's time to break the ice...? That was terrible.” They attempt to fly, but the feeling of Humans-Should-Not-Fly causes them to crash back onto the ground, they now realise that they currently posses fragile, thin limbs.

Weighing their options on mobility, they take off running towards the commotion.

 

The marketplace is trashed, metal scraps and snapped wood litter the ground, burn marks from some sort of energy weapon are on the still standing structures.

In the midst of it all, an alien in a protective suit is yelling orders, the typical ‘money in the bag routine’.

“Hey!” They call, in this voice they sound like the stuff of nightmares, they're glad they're not Toepick.

Bubble Head turns, sly grin plastered on his smug face. “Tennyson? ‘bout time you got here.” He picks up a piece of a nearby broken market stand and throws it towards the Necrofriggian, who ducks and sprints towards the criminal.

“I'm not Tennyson.”

“Then who are ya, a vigilante? You won't last long in Undertown.”

“Maybe Undertown won't last long with me.” They spread their wings to give themselves a more imposing presence.

“Just who in the void do you think you are…?”

“Hey!” Speak of the devil, the Wielder of The Omnitrix and his partner appear, Proto-TRUK parked behind them.

“Freeze!” Rook shouts, his Proto-Tool raised and ready to fire, Ben snorts at the unintended pun. “You are under arrest!”

“What the what?” This gives Ben pause, and seeing the opportunity, the Necrofriggian flees. “Dude, that was the guy Paradox was on about!”

“Excuse me?”

“Omnitrix, chest.” he points to his own chest for emphasis. “You get really good at looking for then when Eon could pop up from any time or space.”

“Well, as you say, ‘aw man.’”

 

They run, down back alleys and through streets, meeting little resistance but a lot of confusing twists and turns, repeatedly slapping the symbol on their chest.

Damn the prototype, they think, didn't Tennyson say once that there was a knack to this?

Maybe it's a binary code, possibly for the number ‘10'?

The casing is jammed, so there's little chance to try.

Too little pressure on the interface?

They don't see how they can put more pressure on without outright punching the thing, and they know that punching the Omnitrix is a bad idea.

Their best option is to wait out the ten minute timer, which they do hope is actually set to ten minutes. Again, damn the prototype.

“Raise your hands above your head, slowly.” comes the voice of the Revonnahgander Plumber, accompanied by the whirr of power from his weapon.

They do so, just as their Omnitrix decides to timeout.


End file.
